12/10/2014

Trinity's Midweek Blast for December 10, 2014

Trinity Faculty: Innovative Leaders Tackling Challenges

The weekend before Thanksgiving more than 10,000 theologians gathered in San Diego, CA., for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature.The AAR/SBL gathering is the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, bringing together an impressive array of scholars. As one journalist put it, "You see the rock stars of religious study everywhere here - scholar celebrities who shape our experience of the past, culture, and God." Eight faculty members from Trinity and Bexley Seabury attended, including our own "stars."

Dr. Mark Powell, a member of the steering committee for the "Historical Jesus" section of SBL, chaired one of this section's meetings in San Diego in addition to serving on several other editorial boards that met. He was also spotted at the Baker Books reception fielding inquiries from "fans" about his best-selling book, Introducing the New Testament.

Dr. Joy Schroeder published Deborah's Daughters: Gender Politics and Biblical Interpretation (Oxford University Press) this year, and the book was the featured topic of a panel discussion. At the session, four noted experts from North America and Europe enthusiastically praised Dr. Schroeder's book, using it as a case study in methodology for retrieving the voices of historical women who interpreted the Bible through the centuries.This is a very big deal!

Dr. Lisa Dahill became president of the "Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality" in San Diego, and coordinated a session of the Christian Spirituality Group at AAR related to climate change. As president, she will travel to South Africa this year and will deliver the Presidential Address when the Society meets at AAR/SBL next fall.

Dr. Wally Taylor, well-known for his book, Paul: Apostle to the Nations: An Introduction (Fortress, 2012), was part of sessions on "Righteousness/Justice in Paul," "Pauline Epistles," and "Polis and Ekklesia: Investigations of Urban Christianity." Dr. Jason Fout of the Bexley Seabury faculty continued his involvement with the "Scriptural Reasoning" group that pursues the practice of interreligious scriptural study. Dr. Cheryl Peterson, author of the highly acclaimed Who Is the Church? An Ecclesiology for the Twenty-first Century (Fortress, 2013), attended the Society of Anglican and Lutheran Theologians among other sessions. She was part of the board meeting for the journal Dialog as was recently retired Trinity professor, Dr. Jim Childs. Dr. Childs was involved in several sessions on environmental ethics, enabling him to bring the most recent thinking on environmental ethics straight to his classroom this spring.

Trinity's vision statement commits us to "ongoing academic rigor and innovation as well as faculty who are recognized as being leaders in their fields." You can judge for yourself, but from my vantage point as Academic Dean I think our faculty is living the vision splendidly!

One more thing and this is something bigger than any of our faculty's noteworthy achievements.The call for theologians to attend to the issue of climate change loomed large in San Diego. Dozens of sessions were devoted to eco-theology. Former President Jimmy Carter addressed the gathering on the role of religion in addressing climate change, and new AAR President, Dr. Laurie Zoloth, Professor of Religious Studies, Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Northwestern University, laid out a daring challenge in her plenary address, "Interrupting Your Life: An Ethics for the Coming Storm." She suggested that seven years from now, in 2021, the American Academy of Religion observe a sabbath year and not hold its annual meeting. Forgoing the "quantum of carbon" consumed by such a huge annual gathering, she suggested that Academy members stay home and invest in their communities for a weekend. Imagine that: scholars choosing not to do something they love to do for the sake of God's creation. "Of course it will be hard," Dr. Zoloth said, "and you might be thinking now how hard, how costly, how, as they say, inconvenient. But we have seven years to figure out the details, and you are a very, very clever group of scholars."

Indeed we are, but more than that we are blessed by a great God who became flesh and lived, died, and rose among us in order to redeem the entire cosmos. Loving God with all our mind may come naturally to theological scholars. But in the century ahead we are all being called as never before to love God and neighbor with heart, soul, and strength as well. At the corner of College and Main we are ready for the challenge.

For an excellent article about Dr. Zoloth's speech click here.

Peace,

Brad Binau (TLS '81)
Academic Dean
Trinity Lutheran Seminary